Ailes, Roger Eugene

Ailes, Roger Eugene ālz [key], 1940–, American television executive and political adviser, b. Warren, Ohio, grad. Ohio Univ. (B.A., 1962). He worked in local television in the 1960s as a producer, then worked in Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign as executive producer for television, and was credited with contributing to Nixon's win. A conservative, Ailes subsequently worked as a political consultant for a number of Republican candidates before serving as media consultant to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in their successful bids for the presidency. He left the campaign trail in the early 1990s, returning to television as president (1993–96) of the business news network CNBC. In 1996 Rupert Murdoch launched Fox News, with Ailes as its president. Ailes molded the network into the profitable but sometimes shrill voice of Republican conservativism, becoming a controversial figure in the process. He also became chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group in 2005.